californian. human rights, free expression, tech, international law. uc irvine. fulbright. article 19. prior: UN special rapporteur, GNI chair. edu coalition (dm for details) go bears!
systematic IHL violations ordered by senior officials, every one of whom should be held accountable.
Brian Finucane“A former U.S. military official told CBS that the value of hitting energy infrastructure would be to impact the Iranian military's ability to provide services and effectively govern.” Yeah, that doesn’t meet the test for being a lawful military objective.
feels like a story likely to be repeated/retold soon: “The real question is how did anyone invest so much money, and then lend so much money, to a . . . kid with no personal experience and no infrastructure?”
How Leopold Aschenbrenner, the ‘golden child’ of the AI trade, was laid lowThe $20bn hedge fund manager’s wild ride ended with a call to Ken Griffingiftarticle.ft.comwhat this article doesn't note is the extraordinary power of full device access & the serious potential for abuse by law enforcement or border police. seizure/access, without constraint, is itself disproportionate.
A U.S. Citizen Deleted His Phone’s Data. Now He Faces a Felony Charge. (Gift Article)Federal prosecutors charged a man returning to the United States with obstruction because he gave them a passcode that erased his smartphone during a customs search.www.nytimes.comtotal cruelty & a wicked TSA-ICE collaboration to instill fear in those lawfully in the country.
ICE Arrests Surge at Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive (Gift Article)Federal agents are arresting spouses of Americans, tech workers and others whose visas have expired, including many who have active applications to stay in the country.www.nytimes.comthis is not even remotely surprising, given putin's broad criminalization of expression, association & assembly in russia
Russia closes window for dissent as Ukraine’s attacks stir public dismayMoscow is coming under increasing pressure over Kyiv’s relentless drone strikes. Ukraine’s president is due to meet in Washington with President Donald Trump on Tuesday.wapo.streally clear example of disinformation & an anti-science movement making its way to presidential policy, disregarding the enormity of the threats to children's and the broader public's health
Trump Turns Up the Heat on RFK Jr. to Cut Back Childhood VaccinesThe president is focused on the shots’ alleged tie to autism, even though White House advisers wanted to tone down attention to the issue ahead of the midterms.www.wsj.comhe concludes like all authoritarian minded people: lock up the leakers. this is about lying to americans to do something stupid and unpopular.
Aaron RuparWELKER: Is America backing away from a larger attack bc our stockpile has been depleted? WALTZ: We have to take a step back. A lot of our stockpiles were depleted because of Biden WELKER: But you acknowledge they're depleted? WALTZ: No. And the people leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail
one of the great things about the venice biennale is how it regularly captures the cultural and political moment with fantastic art/artists. this is basically peak biennale.
Florentina Holzinger’s Naked AmbitionThe artist Florentina Holzinger’s extreme use of the body has caused viewers to puke, faint, and leave her shows. At the Venice Biennale, though, her vision has made her a star.www.newyorker.comnot that hard to imagine that these extremist state dept ideologues were going to brazil to bolster bolsonaro & undermine the country's democracy. they shouldn't be surprised if, the more their notoriety rises, the more govts deny them entry.
Brazil denies visas to U.S. delegation aiming to impugn election system, officials sayThe U.S. delegation had planned to visit the Brazilian capital and cast doubt on the integrity of the voting system before a presidential election this fall, officials said.www.washingtonpost.comthis is plain abuse of power & should be an enormous scandal, yet it is one of how many outrages just this week...
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.www.nytimes.composes the interesting question: should some artifacts of history be destroyed to honor the murdered?
Hitler’s Birthplace in Austria Is Now a Police Station (Gift Article)The government repurposed the 17th-century building in hopes of preventing the site from becoming an attraction for Nazi sympathizers.www.nytimes.comfascinating that he would go there, not only b/c of what it says about his knowledge of how the world perceives trump admin crimes but also the assumption of blanket impunity within the united states.
Aaron RuparTom Cotton: "Ultimately, it's not about Prime Minster Netanyahu and Israel -- it's about arresting Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio in the future if they ever travel abroad."
macron, like most serious european leaders, knows this won't work - perhaps even realizes it's counterproductive - but they misperceive the politics and push ahead nonetheless
France Joins a Global Move Toward Restricting Social Media for ChildrenIts new law, the first of its kind enacted by a European country, will ban access to some accounts for anyone under 15.www.nytimes.comnews on the street (i.e. politico) is that trump's Free Speech Phonies™ are promoting a UN resolution. democratic governments must fight back, & here was my suggestion with @knightcolumbia.org recently 1/2
A Normative Intervention to Reclaim ‘Free Speech’knightcolumbia.org